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glake

glake

Member
It's been over 10 years since I had my boat. A deal came my way so I'm back. I pulled this 79 Eluder out of the weeds. It was buried up to the axles. I shoveled out the charcoal briquets he had dumped in it, put some tires from another trailer I had on it, jerry-rigged the lights, and hauled it home.
The motor is an 88 Mercury Black Max 175 and wants to fire up. I don't plan to attempt that until we give it a good going over. Trim still works, which is a good sign.
My short term goal is to strip out the interior and get the motor running by Easter and give it a test run at the river. If all goes well, we'll use it stripped down this summer, work the bugs out, and then give it a complete overhaul this winter.

Besides Barts and Overton's, I'd appreciate any good sources for parts.

Wish me luck! And, yes, that is moss growing on it.

http://gallery.me.com/gclake#100213
http://gallery.me.com/gclake#100205
 
Another classic saved from neglect!! It looks like you're in for a labor of love but the outcome will be well worth it!! You'd be amazed what a bottle of Aqua-buff and a highspeed wheel will do for the gelcoat!! Good Luck!
 
Congrats!

Thats a nice motor for that boat- I had a 89 175hp merc and it was a good motor. Should be alot of fun.

If you can't bring the gel back- think about a ratboat theme... I've always thought that would be really neat to do with a boat.

Cool pickup, too.
 
glake said:
It's been over 10 years since I had my boat. A deal came my way so I'm back. I pulled this 79 Eluder out of the weeds. It was buried up to the axles. I shoveled out the charcoal briquets he had dumped in it, put some tires from another trailer I had on it, jerry-rigged the lights, and hauled it home.
The motor is an 88 Mercury Black Max 175 and wants to fire up. I don't plan to attempt that until we give it a good going over. Trim still works, which is a good sign.
My short term goal is to strip out the interior and get the motor running by Easter and give it a test run at the river. If all goes well, we'll use it stripped down this summer, work the bugs out, and then give it a complete overhaul this winter.

Besides Barts and Overton's, I'd appreciate any good sources for parts.

Wish me luck! And, yes, that is moss growing on it.

http://gallery.me.com/gclake#100213
http://gallery.me.com/gclake#100205
Click to expand...
Something i didnt know is that overtons is now owned by gander mtn, so if you have a gander nearby as i do they have all the overton stuff there. I also get my oem parts from crowley marine.
 
:welcome: you will make many freinds here, as every one here is most helpful with any questons. good luck. i will soon be back on my project
 
Welcome.....glad you are saving another one from the junk yard. There is a lot of good knowledge on this board.......and the Checkmate factory is very reasonable for replacement parts....especially interior items.
 
I think you are wasting your time on that hull. Fix up the motor and trailer and find a decent hull. You will have a ton of time and money in the hull before it gets back in the water. Sorry if thats not what you wanted to hear, but I've been there and done that.
 
Get her pressure washed and see what you got under the dirt and mold. I have seen boats worse looking than that and a few hours with a pressure and they took on a new look. I found "purple power" concrete degreeser and a stiff scrub brush works wonders!!!

Looks like a SMP tow low trailer. Sweetwater Metal Products. I hade 2 mates with those trailers and they rode very nice.

Good luck and keep us posted with updates
 
looks like a good project. my hull was in almost as bad of shape as that. it just takes a little TLC. charcoal? WTF! why would somebody put charcoal in a boat?
 
Thanks

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement. I love a good project and this one should be fun. I pressure washed in completely and the hull is in very good shape. Most of the work is cosmetic. I will need to do the floor and the foam, (fiberglass is fun, right!?) and interior. The motor still looks to be pristine. Just a tune up and it should be ready to go.

I've begun work on the trailer itself. I added a second axle from a buddy who had a few laying around, so now it's a tandem. There's quite a bit of rust, especially from sitting on the ground, and a crossmember that needed a section replace and reinforced. I need to get fenders on it, grind off the rust, and then it's time to paint and rewire.

Did I mention it was a free boat? If it's free, it's for me!
 
Keep us informed on your progress

I did the floor in my Trimate III a year ago. It was my 1st and I really did enjoy doing the work and learning how the boat was put together.
 
Hey, free is good. I'm glad to see someone get ahold of this boat who's going to get it back in shape.

Those are funky looking windshields, I wonder what happened to the original ones. I see you plan on attempting to use the boat this summer before fully restoring it - I'd just suggest that you make darned good and sure that the transom and knees are sound before taking it out. Once water gets into foam and decking it usually finds it's way into stringers and the transom as well. I'd bet that you're going to end up replacing the transom, but on the other hand you just might get lucky.

Let me know if you need any photos of any particular part of the boat. My Eluder's cap will be hanging from the rafters in my garage for probably another month or so, if you need photos of any hard to reach places it'll be easy right now. I've found that it is so much easier to work on everything that I'll probably go so far as installing carpet before putting the cap back on permanently.

Oh, I forgot to mention some of my favorite sources for supplies. I've gotten my fiberglass and epoxy from US Composites, they seem to have very good prices. Stainless hardware from Bolt Depot. Boating related stuff from either iboats.com or BoatBandit. Got my new steering system from BoatStoreUSA. A few electrical related items from Newark Electronics. And every once in a while I've been able to get lucky on ebay - I recently got a twin cable steering adapter kit for my engine for $20.
 
Thanks for the info groundloop,

I've been looking at the photos of your restoration and am inspired. Lots of work, but lots of fun in my opinion.
 
rot

As expected, both the floor and the transom are shot. Wife's not keen on the rebuild, my father thinks I should think long and hard about it and probably ditch it. I think it's worth the effort. The boat has already started to grow on me. Am I nuts?
 
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